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AgNOR counts are useful in cervical smears
Author(s) -
Cardillo M. R.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/dc.2840080304
Subject(s) - medicine , squamous metaplasia , papanicolaou stain , pathology , metaplasia , cytology , staining , nucleolus organizer region , cervical cancer , cervical intraepithelial neoplasia , epithelium , cancer , nucleolus , nucleus , psychiatry
Because they present marked cellular changes, the cytological appearances of epithelial repair may be confused with those of cancer. To see whether the Ag‐NOR staining technique for nucleolar organizer regions would be useful to distinguish benign proliferative reactions (squamous metaplasia and repair) from cervical intra‐epithelial neoplasia (CIN I, CIN II, and CIN III), we studied a series of cervical smears. The smears, previously stained with the Papanicolaou technique, were destained and restained with Ag‐NOR silver. Significantly different (P < 0.05) Ag‐NOR counts were found in squamous metaplasia, epithelial repair, and various degrees of CIN. The Ag‐NOR technique appears useful in the diagnosis of cervical cytology and particularly in cases with marked cellular change, which could be confused with neoplasia. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, inc.